Mickey 17 (USA, 2025)
Bong Joon Ho cashed in on the success of
Parasite to create a big-budget science fiction black comedy based on the novel
Mickey 7.
Set in 2054, the film follows Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) and his best friend Timo (Steven Yeun), who fall into trouble with violent gangsters after taking out a loan to start a macaroon business ("Macaroons are the New Hamburgers" proved to be an unfortunate miscalculation). Facing a grim fate on Earth, both men opt for a one-way trip on a spaceship to help establish a new colony. Timo talks his way into a pilot job, while the hapless and unskilled Mickey is assigned the role of an "expendable"—a crew member repeatedly subjected to dangerous tasks and replicated, with memories intact, upon death. The fact that the film begins with Mickey already on his 17th version speaks volumes about the life expectancy of an expendable.
Colonial life on the frozen planet is brutal, and Mickey struggles to survive amid the perils of his new environment. Bong crafts an absurdist sci-fi narrative infused with a heavy-handed and withering critique of capitalism and fascism. This is unsurprising given his previous works, but here he amplifies his themes through the character of Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), the colony's stunningly incompetent and bigoted leader. Marshall’s desire for a "pure population for this white planet" is matched only by his venality and stupidity.
This, unfortunately, is where the film falters. Marshall would have been more effective as a distant antagonist, an occasionally seen force making life difficult for Mickey. Instead, Ruffalo's character is given excessive screen time despite being shallowly written. Ultimately Marshall is just a buffoon and nobody wants to spend
that much time with an idiot.
While the novel compensates for its basic plot through the protagonist’s engaging first-person perspective, Bong simplifies the story even further, leading to a third act that devolves into muddled CGI spectacle. The film struggles to find a balance between black comedy and sci-fi adventure, ultimately succeeding at neither. It is funny, but not funny enough, and the sc-fi adventure part is mostly dull.
There are elements to appreciate. Pattinson delivers an engaging performance, the production design is impressive, and the film contains moments of genuine humor. However, rather than being an outright failure, Mickey 17 feels more like a missed opportunity than a bad idea—a film with potential that never fully realizes its ambitions.
(I would 100% watch a 6 episode Apple series about Mickey and Timo's macaroon business.)
Rating: 5.5/10
!! The storyline was intriguing, but not irrational to follow; what made me remain glued to the movie though was some kind of magic created by De Palma, what with the raging storm, the apparently hysterical close-ups of the actors , their weird attitude all thru the film, the unpredictable scenes in between the predictable ones and the general flow of the storyline without exaggerating.
